Afrikaans Aan Die Praat

Explore the history of Afrikaans as a language of Africa – a language that emerged through the interaction of Dutch settlers with indigenous people and slaves.

Afrikaans is the third most widely used language in South Africa, after isiXhosa and isiZulu, and it remains today a driver in the newspaper, magazine, radio, television, film, heritage and tourism, education, music, festival, and advertising sectors.

Afrikaans-speakers have initiated a variety of language and cultural projects to free Afrikaans from its apartheid connotations and to profile it as a language which belongs to everyone who speaks it.

This exhibition depicts the movements that established Afrikaans as an official language and fostered its role in Afrikaner nationalism and apartheid. It takes a look at the challenging, dynamic situation of Afrikaans in contemporary South Africa. This traveling exhibition on Afrikaans was developed by the Social History Collections Department of Iziko Museums of Cape Town, the Genadendal Mission Museum and the Afrikaans Language Museum in Paarl as part of the Afrikaans Language Project to promote closer relationships between southern Africa and the Dutch language area.